The Easy Chair - Self Assembly

A fairly straight forward procedure of assembling the chair. It does not require much effort, just a certain method of execution to make all slots & tabs stay in place.

The Easy Chair - Design Function

The Easy Chair - Design Details

The Easy Chair - Branding

The branding a chose for my chair was fairly simply but effective in the way i engraved it into the chairs seat. Although the Japanese Kanji only means 'chair' itself, it gives it a traditional aesthetic, complementing the background of the 100 % design conference in Tokyo.

The Easy Chair - Locking Systems

The locking systems that i put into practice are kept to 2 different ways of slotting, cross hatching for the structural integrity of holding 150kgs of weight for the inner components, whilst using tabs that slide into grooves for the outer components, these are situated at the base of the design & between that chair seat & backrest.

The Easy Chair - Template

My template for the 1800 x 1100 Xanita board was put together by fitting all the straight lined features (front, back & middle slats) horizontal with the board, leaving the excess space to be consumed by the awkward side profile shapes, 3 in this case.

Additional Things To Go By..

Before I start on my final model I must keep in mind the following:

- Cutting correct lengths in order to consider the thickness of the Xanita.
*Around angled edges & slots.
- Steady ruled cuts to keep a fine line along exposed faces.
- Account for possible sliding & moving of tabs.
- Do not cut my finger off.

Final Design

This is my final design. It uses all the locking mechanisms i have explored & has maintained the original design that i was aiming for. I still may use the tapering /cambering effect for the sides if it allows enough room for the seating area, but otherwise this will be the final outcome.

On A Lighter Note...

The dangers of sleep deprivation & Stanley Knives.

Dimensions

These are the standard dimension i am going by. Their will be the flat pattern that creates the seating & back rests, x2 side profiles (3 if i have enough board) & x2 front slotting pieces to create the torsional supports internally.

Cardboard 1:1 Mock Up 2

This second mock up i did, not only was changed by the side profile, but it focuses much more on the supporting uprights & locking mechanisms put in places, in order to hold the required weight. Putting this together with standard cardboard i was actually able to place 70 kgs on it evenly & in held.....just. By doing this it confirmed that the Xanita, which is obviously denser, will be able to hold the weight.

Cardboard 1:1 Mock Up 1

This original design was more of a form study to get a sense of scale. The overall dimensions were slightly out as the seats width was slightly oversized & the height of the chair. It uses the idea of 4 slotting pieces, 2 in which have the side profile & 2 in which have the front profile. It also is accompanied by tapered sides, mainly for aesthetic purposes. With this in mind, I need to keep the actual seating cross-board at a reasonable size, in order to comply with all sizes.

Locking Mechanisms

These double backed methods can be used not only as an aesthetic towards the overall design, but to minimize the amount of board needed when applying the other techniques. Will most likely be used on the outer-side faces of my design to assist with a rounded look.

Locking Mechanisms

Playing around with different locking mechanisms, I found that the above cross hatching & angled slotting procedures are best suited for my design. The cross hatching is devoted to the internal component of my chair design, allowing enough torsion to be applied to hold & distribute the weight of the person evenly across the seating base.

The angled slotting is aimed more towards the flat pattern that binds the 4 other separate pieces together.

Final Concept 3

Final Concept 2

Final Concept 1

Concept 3

The 3rd concept i did, i strayed away from Kanjii symbols & went down another traditional Japanese cultural aspect, focusing on furniture design through nature, or plantation moreso. This design is loosely based on the profile of a Lotus flower.

Concept 2

This idea was again based on Kanjii for the side profile.

Concept 1

Initial ideas utilizing the side profiles of Kanji symbols.

Adding supports & back piece to give it the perspective of a chair front on.

Initial Ideation

Getting a perspective of structural hatching & connections.

Exploring external coverings.

Inspiration

The Japanese Kanjii calligraphy became a source of inspiration after i thought i could grasp a fine detail of design as a side profile to the piece of furniture. Although this is apparent, an abstraction of the Kanjii character/s will be necessary to allow the aesthetic to be followed by its' functional purposes.
Brainstorm.

Event Research

My Chair design will be based on the Tokyo design conference. After looking at the floor plan of such, I realized i wanted to stylize a chair that can be used outdoors at the cafe area. The chair obviously needs to be sizable in order for casual coffee-goers or lunchers to quickly be able to pull one up.

Esquisse 4

The image above depicts the flat pattern of various folds & cuts put in place top create a 60mm x 60mm x 60mm box. Grasping a sense of the limitations and the dimensions needed to create the box, i went through 2 trial flat patterns before finally getting the right lengths for each section. I came across one main problem throughout the esquisse, which concerned the 45 degree angled cut. With this incision a milimeter over or under the fold became very tedious, putting the dimensions out. My final box had a 45 degree cut that was about a mill over allowing the fold to depress leaving it slightly skewed.

Esquisse 3

I created pieces that are based on a Rosebud.
The 3 structure were created using Fibonacci's theory. Each measurement that i placed went in order from 20mm - 30mm -50mm - 80mm - 50mm -30mm. One being a made from two singular pieces of card that are placed as a cross. The second having circular plates of their respective dimensions intersecting with the respective marks on the card & lastly a piece that was totally abstracted using circular plates each being a different size & placed in order one after the other.

Esquisse 2

This card structure was created by using 18 (120X100) cross hatched slits.
1 (100x100) continuous piece to create the bounding box, held together using a tab.
16 (100X70) individual cards that were rolled & placed in the 4 corners & middle to gain support.

It was constructed using 320gsm card.

The main and only problem i came across was the warping of the card. This occurred because all cross hatch slits were approx. 10mm apart, give or take 1mm from each slits and it accumulates.

Apart from this there was no major concern. It held the required 100kgs with very minimal compression.

Origami - Akira Yoshizawa

During research I found a famous Origami artist, Akira Yoshizawa, passed away now, but in the day knew exactly what he was doing with paper. The originality of his pieces is ridiculous. Does well.

Some links for his work:

http://www.geocities.com/jmarcolina/jpegs/yosh_dog.jpg

http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/wp-content/2008/02/ibex.jpg

http://www.peacetree.info/project/akira/pic16.jpg

Esquisse 1

All of the above were created using the 100x100x100 template. Incorporating tabs in various spots, i was able to connect each side. I came across the most difficulty when creating the prism as some of my tabs came loose unlike the other 2 models.

Jasper Morrison & Karim Rashid

Eero Aarnio & Verner Panton

Arne Jacobsen & Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe